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Bring Your Cabinets Back to Life with a Fresh Coat of Paint

Painting Kitchen Cabinets by author Meghan Carter

  • How to prep your cabinets before you paint.
  • The best type of paint to use.
  • Professional painting techniques and tips.
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    Painting kitchen cabinets is an easy and inexpensive way to bring old cabinets back to life as I say in my video, which shows you how to paint kitchen cabinets. And it's true. Painting kitchen cabinets is simple and provides stunning results. If you don't want to buy all new cabinets, but need a way to spruce up your kitchen, painting kitchen cabinets might be just the thing for you.
    Unlike when you stain, painting kitchen cabinets gives you much more color choices. Plus, you have more room to be creative. There are numerous different types of paint finishes you can choose when you paint kitchen cabinets. For example, you can glaze, stencil, paint stripes or use crackle paint on your kitchen cabinets. To see some examples, watch the video. To get the most out of your new paint finish, you might want to consider also changing your cabinet hardware. A fresh coat of paint and new cabinet hardware will do wonders to a drab kitchen.

What You Will Need When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

  • A drop cloth, if you're a bit messy like me.
  • Mild soap, a clean sponge, a clean cloth and a bucket.
  • A screwdriver to remove your cabinet doors and hardware. You will also need a flathead screwdriver to open your primer and paint cans.
  • Liquid deglosser and a-lint free rag, or sandpaper.
  • Clean, high quality paintbrushes. Cheap paintbrushes are much harder to work with.
  • An oil based primer.
  • Oil based paint.
  • A couple of days without using your kitchen cabinets.

Choosing a Color When Painting Kitchen Cabinets

    Keep in mind that the color you choose will look much different on the paint chip at the paint store than it will at home on your kitchen cabinets. That's because the lighting at paint stores is different than the lighting in your home. To make sure you get a color you love, buy a few small paint testers and paint them on test area of your kitchen cabinets. Let them fully dry before you decide on a color because the color of paint when it's wet is much different than paint when it is dry.

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets

  1. Before painting kitchen cabinets, you should remove the cabinet doors and cabinet hardware. It will make the cabinet much easy to clean and paint.
  2. Once the cabinet doors and hardware have been removed, clean the kitchen cabinet base and doors with a mild soap and water. After thoroughly cleaning the cabinets, dry them with a clean cloth.
  3. Then you need to rough up the kitchen cabinets to help make the paint stick. To do that you can either use a liquid deglosser or sandpaper. A liquid deglosser is much easier and faster to use. To use a liquid deglosser all you have to do is rub it on with a lint-free cloth and let it dry for the recommended time period. Then you can paint. I know, it's incredibly simple. If you decide to use sandpaper, you must make sure to clean up all of the dust left on the cabinets before you paint. Otherwise, the dust will ruin your paint finish.
  4. After your kitchen cabinets have been all roughed up, it's time to start painting your kitchen cabinets. First, you need to apply your primer. You should use an oil-based primer because it sticks much better.  To apply the primer, use a clean paintbrush. If you have beveled cabinet doors, you should always start painting the center raised portion of the door first and then work your way out. Painting the door in that order will help to eliminate drips. When painting flat doors and the base of kitchen cabinets, start painting on the top of one side of the cabinet and then work your way across. Use up and down strokes for the best result.
  5. When you painting both cabinet doors and the base of the cabinets, use straight even strokes. If some of your strokes look heavier than others, go over them and blend them together. To blend your strokes together, start your brush stroke applying the amount of pressure you normally use when painting and as you move through the stroke, gently lift up your brush. Just like that. It will make your brush stroke disappear and blend into your previous brush strokes.
  6. If you do find drips, don't worry. They are easy to eliminate. First, get all of the paint off of your paintbrush. Then blend the drip into the rest of the paint, using the blending technique I just showed you.
  7. Once your primer is dry, it is really time to start painting your kitchen cabinets. You will want to start painting your kitchen cabinets as soon as the primer is dry to touch. Waiting too long after priming will make the paint finish less durable. Use an oil-based paint instead of a latex paint because it will have a much more durable finish. Apply the paint the same way as you did the primer. Let the first coat dry, and apply a second coat if needed.

After painting your kitchen cabinets, let them fully dry. Then attach your cabinet hardware and hang the doors back up.





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